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Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 7:18 pm
by DNgroundworks
Hi all, not been on for a while been flat out.
Still up at lancaster uni, done 3 70 hour weeks on the trott now, cant wait for a break!
Need some advice regarding CHAS & Construction line, are anyone members, i need to get on with the above in order to tender for public works contracts that i have a chance at, (public foot bridges, play areas etc) not big jobs but decent enough for me.
so how much does it cost to be a part of it?
i also need to get nrswa registerd, again anyone registerd?
A mate of mine and long time family friend who is site manager at the lancaster job is going to tender for the works on my behalf and put all the h&s and enviromental policies in place, in return ill give him the bigger contract notices that are out of my league and he will take a small cut of any works we win, so hopefully should all work well 
Regards Dan
Any advice regarding subbing to councils will be greatly received as it all confuses me!
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 9:14 am
by lutonlagerlout
dont know much about the first bit,but i find the LA excellent to work for
you get paid and all HSE is taken into consideration
5% 6 month retention is a drag but hey ho you know that before you start
normally you have to price it quite tight as it has to go to the lowest tender,but the prime cost sums for extras is where you make a bit of money.
cheers LLL
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 2:55 pm
by DNgroundworks
Doing the work and pricing is not a problem, its the pre-qualification, tender and h&s im not familiar with.
Apparently round my way councils will not use an organisation if they are not CHAS (construction health and safety assessment scheme) and construction line registered.
NRSWA are your street work tickets - (new road and street works act) need these at supervisor level to take on work on the public highway and all your lads have to be ticketed.
These are the fellas that are helping me out, they are consultants as well as active civil engineers, not much of a website - http://www.n-c-e.co.uk/welcome.htm
Just a thought - surely Tony Mc will be familiar with all this, ive got plenty of work to price and have a crack at, but i need some one with a bit more experience, just to say you need to do this, this and this in order to get the job. Even if a bigger firm will take the job on and i sub to them or they take a cut or woteva just so i can get a foot in the door thats all im after.
Just out of interest Tony how do you go about getting and executing the work you do for LA?
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 2:57 pm
by ilovesettsonmondays
street works ticket is about 700 for an operative .5 day course usually.
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 3:00 pm
by DNgroundworks
ye i believe so, can get a bit better through the firm were subbing to at the minute, any one out there done the 5 day h&s management course - looks like im going to have to do that as well at some point
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 6:34 pm
by rab1
Its a ball breaker Dan, I`ve only ever done the 3 day one and that was a pain. Dont get me wrong, if you pay to sit the course you will pass as is the way of these things. :;):
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 8:45 pm
by lutonlagerlout
years ago,we had to rebuild a vandal proof bus top,anyway we had to deal with the LA on that and they asked did we want to go on their list,had to upgrade public liability etc
so they end up with about 15 local builders
every time a certain job comes up it gets sent out to 4 builders for tender,lowest price always gets the job
because 4 doesnt divide into 15 you are never quoting against the same builders so it alleviates co-oping
anyway so we are down for social services type work,handicap adaptation,ramps ,bathrooms etc. also tenders for school work
on all these type of jobs HSE is paramount and we do a risk assessment before we start.
contact your local council and ask can you go on the approved list
cheers LLL
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 10:28 pm
by rab1
risk/method statements are the things I write for fun these days. Dan if you need any help just ask but please remember I`m not a paving contractor so I`ll not be that smart on laying techniques etc. 
Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 6:54 am
by pickwell paving
Constructionline price depends on your turnover if you go on their website you can download the application form and its on there but there are pages and pages of it, also the application form CHAS is in there as well if you want to apply for the 2 together. When we did our nvq's as part of our cscs cards the examiner did our NRSWA cards as part of it and just charged us the registration fee about £120 so that worked out well coz the nvq's are useless
In Lincolnshire we have an organisation called business link and they run seminars at fairly plush hotels with free dinners on things like pre qualification questionairres, how to write effective tenders etc. They also have access to funding and loans for small businesses and business support, maybe worth checking if you have anything similar.
Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 8:59 am
by pickwell paving
just checked business link is nationwide www.businesslink.gov.uk sorry don't know how to do links
Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 4:42 pm
by lutonlagerlout
we get no end of offers from shady construction type firms who if you lodge a £500 *deposit* they guarantee you 12 tenders in 12 months
wow!
might as well through that £500 on the fire,because you wont see it again
the best folk to get in with are decent architects, as clients often ask architects for good firms for tenders
cheers LLL
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 10:16 am
by DNgroundworks
hmm alot of food for thought their guys, the more i look into it the more confused and daunted i become, trying to tender for a few jobs at the moment, real basic stuff, if a private client asked me to do the work it wouldnt be a problem but as LA's need endless amounts of bullshit paper work im struggling.
Ive heard that before LLL regarding architects only last week actualy